Patent GB-570083-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to coin actuated variable value printing devices
IPC: G07F17/42
Filed: 1943-04-08
Abstract: 570,083. Coin-freed postal franking-machines. UNIVERSAL POSTAL FRANKERS, Ltd., PARFETT, F., and SOPER, H. N. April 8, 1943, No. 5633. [Class 27] A postal franking or like machine wherein inserted coins are used to complete the operative connections in the value setting mechanism, is provided with hand- or power-operating means which, during a single rotation, cause firstly the setting of a variable value printing member, secondly the printing of an article inserted in the machine simultaneously with the restoration of the setting mechanism to initial position, and thirdly the zeroising of the said variable value printing member. In the construction shown, the machine has two coin slots 2 for halfpennies and pennies respectively, the coins passing through testing devices 11 to shoots 12 and holders 13, 15 freely mounted on a shaft 18, the holder 13 accommodating five halfpennies edge - to - edge and the holder 15 two pennies. When the requisite coins have been inserted, a handle 4 is rotated through one revolution and drives a camshaft 23 which rocks first the coin-holder 13 and then the coin holder 15, and these holders rock arms 32, 33 about the shaft 18 to an extent depending on the number of coins in the holders ; the arms 32, 33 drive a shaft 41 which is thus turned through an angle corresponding to the number of coins, the shaft 41 setting a printing device 73 to the value of the coins in the holders. The printing device is set during the first part of the rotation of the handle 4 ; during the next part, a mutilated gear 91 comes into action and rotates a drum 69 which carries the printing device 73. The letter to be franked has been inserted through a slit 6 and lies on a platform 5. As the drum 69 rotates and the handle 4 completes its revolution, the printing device comes down on the letter and franks it, the letter is fed forward by.the drum and passes off the platform 5 to drop into a collecting box, the printing-device is returned to its zero or normal position, and the coins are no longer supported in the holders 13, 15, but drop into a coin-box. Setting the printing device according to the value of the inserted coins. The handle 4 drives the cam-shaft 23 through gearing 61, 62, and the cam-shaft rocks the coin holders 13, 15 successively by means of cams 21, 31 fixed on the shaft and engaged by pins 22, 30 on arms 19, 28 which are pivoted to the coin holders and are forked at 26, 29 to engage over the shaft 23. As the coin-holders rock, they meet stops or pins 34, 35 on arms 32, 33 loose on shaft 18, there being one pin on each arm for each coin that the corresponding coin-holder can hold ; thus, there are five pins on arm 32 and two on arm 33. If there are no coins in the holders, the latter rock freely past the arms 32, 33, but if there are any coins in the holders, the latter rock towards the arms until the topmost coin engages the corresponding stop pin and thus carries the arm along with the holder. The pins are so arranged that the outermost one will make contact with the topmost coin if the holder is full, the other pins being stepped back at lesser radii and each adapted to make contact with one of the lower coins ; further, the pins are so arranged angularly that the angular distance between them corresponds to the movement required to adjust the printing device from one set position to the next. The arms 32, 33 are thus rocked through angles corresponding to the number of coins in their respective holders, and this movement is transferred to the shaft 41, the arms having toothed sectors 37, 38 engaging pinions 39, 40 connected to the shaft 41 by ratchet clutches 42, 43, backward motion of the shaft being prevented by ratchet gear 64. The arm 32 is rocked first to rotate the shaft 41 by an amount corresponding to the number of coins in the holder 13, and the arm 33 is then rocked to rotate the shaft by a further amount corresponding to the number of coins in its holder 15. A six-armed spider 66 on the shaft 41 engages and rotates a star-wheel 67 loose on the drum shaft 68, and thus rotates the printing device 73 through gearing 70, 71 to the appropriate setting. Whilst the printing device is being set, the drum 69 carrying it is locked against rotation by means of an arcuate member 81 on the shaft 60 engaging a recessed arm 92 on the drum shaft 68. Franking the letter. The letter to be franked is inserted through the slot 6 and along a platform 5 until it reaches a stop 89 formed on the drum 69. After the printing device has been set, the continued rotation of the handoperated shaft 60 brings the mutilated gear 91 into mesh with a gear 75 on the drum shaft 68 and rotates the drum, the arcuate member 81 having simultaneously freed the arm 92. The printing device 73 is prevented from altering its setting by means of a many-sided disc 78 on the device engaging a fixed cam 79 as the drum 69 carries the printing device round. Inking rollers 82 are placed near the drum 69 and a pressure roller 83 below the drum is pressed upwards by a spring 86 to give the printing pressure. As the drum rotates, the letter is franked, and the rims 90 of the drum feed the letter forward along the platform 5 until it falls off the platform into the collecting box below. As soon as the printing operation is completed, the disc 78 becomes free from the cam 79 and the printing device is returned step-by-step to its zero position by the continued rotation of the drum, a mutilated wheel 76 on the printing device being now engaged by a stationary mutilated wheel 77 on the shaft 68. During the latter part of the movement of the handle 4 and the cam-shaft 23, the coin-holders 13, 15 are returned by the cams 21, 31 to their original positions, and the arms 32, -33 are returned to their original positions by cams 45, 46. The coins are simultaneously released from the coin-holders by means of cams 58 on the cam-shaft 23 which rock arms 55 (not shown) supporting the coins in the holders. The apparatus may be modified in the following ways : (1) the pin-carrying arms 32, 33 may drive the coin-holders instead of vice versa; (2) either the coin-holder or the pin arm can be stationary ; (3) the coin-holder or pin arm may be actuated by springs instead of by cams ; and (4) the shaft 60 may be power-actuated.